The following is a guest post from Daniel Boomhower, Head of Reader Services in the Music Division. In the eighteenth century mention of the name Bach brought foremost to mind either Johann Christian Bach (1735-1782), the “London Bach,” or to Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788), from 1768 the “Hamburg Bach” and from about 1740 to …
On March 20 Disney’s latest animated film-turned-stage musical, Aladdin, opened on Broadway. There has been a lot of buzz about the new production, particularly regarding the new songs and characters, many of which have been revived from the early stages of the development for 1992’s top grossing film. The film’s release came over a year …
The following is a guest post from Senior Music Cataloger retiree Sharon McKinley. Are you already suffering from post-Olympics letdown? Just think about the athletes, who work non-stop towards that goal of standing on the podium, and afterwards may simply become has-beens. Of course, many athletes, past and present, have managed to capitalize on their …
The following is a guest post from Music Archivist Janet McKinney. One year ago this month the rush to buy tickets during the members only presale to see the Broadway tour of The Book of Mormon musical here in Washington, DC crashed the Kennedy Center website. The incident reminded me of a topic in which …
The following text excerpted from a Library of Congress press release. The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), one of the world’s leading performing-rights organizations, through the past 100 years has been protecting the use of its members’ musical works, monitoring broadcast, online and live usage and ensuring that music creators are fairly …
The following is a guest post from Music Archivist Chris Hartten. Eminent Polish keyboardist Wanda Landowska has been called many things over the past century: visionary, diva, virtuoso, Mamusia. Her story is extraordinary, a self-made legend who mined the rich past of early Western keyboard music to forge her future as an authentic performer and …
The following is a guest post from Head of Reader Services, Daniel Boomhower. In May, 1723, Johann Sebastian Bach began, following his appointment as the Cantor at St. Thomas School and Director of Music in Leipzig, a period of creative activity of staggering productivity. In fulfillment of his responsibility for providing sacred music for the …
Stephen Collins Foster, one of the most significant songwriters in American history, died 150 years ago today. With over 200 songs to his credit, Foster penned tunes and lyrics that have stood the test of time: “Oh! Susanna,” “Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair,” “Camptown Races,” and “My Old Kentucky Home” are just a handful …